The simulator itself appeared in the country several years ago as a web application. By sequentially asking the user questions about the characteristics of a problematic situation, it uses the answers to suggest whether the situation constitutes a conflict of interest and/or a breach of other anti-corruption standards under national law.

In particular, the simulator first asks the user to choose the category corresponding to their status – current public official; person planning to become a public official; or former public official – and then to select the relevant basis for the inquiry (i.e., the applicable anti-corruption standard).

For example, for the "current public official" category:

• secondary employment;
• partnership in an organization;
• employment prior to assuming office;
• planning to take secondary employment;
• planning to enter into a partnership in an organization.

For the "former public official" status:

• employment in the private sector;
• planning to work in the private sector;
• planning to take a public office.

The simulator then clarifies additional circumstances. For instance, for secondary employment (or planning such employment), it asks about the sector – public or private; if private, whether as an employee or as a self-employed individual; if as an employee, in what capacity (e.g., manager, sponsor, consultant, representative, etc.). It also asks whether the organization has ties with the state, such as performing public contracts.

Based on the selected answers, the user receives a brief conclusion as to whether signs of a conflict of interest are present in their situation.

This functionality will now be built into the national chatbot TINA – a 24/7 virtual assistant developed by the Office of the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina to interact with citizens, provide information and documents (e.g., vaccination certificates, criminal record certificates, disability confirmations, etc.), and assist in obtaining public services (the bot already supports more than 446 procedures across 55 agencies and organizations).

The chatbot is available on the Argentina.gob.ar portal, in the Mi Argentina app, and on WhatsApp. The requirement to place TINA on official websites of government bodies and organizations is also established by Resolution 14/2022 and Decree 159/2023.

In addition to the "conflict-of-interest simulator", TINA has integrated a "Report corruption" feature that enables citizens to submit information about possible corruption violations to the Anti-Corruption Office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Argentina, including anonymously.

Tools that help users assess whether a situation exhibits signs of a conflict of interest are being implemented in other countries as well.

A "conflict-of-interest simulator" with similar logic operates in Ecuador.

There, the user is also first asked to select a suitable category: a person planning to become a public servant; a former public servant; a spouse or other relative of a public servant; a private-sector employee; or a current public servant.

After choosing the basic category, the user specifies a subcategory or other general circumstances of the inquiry. For the "public servant" category, for example, the subcategories include:

• executive branch official;
• legislative branch official;
• judicial branch official;
• official of a body responsible for transparency and social control;
• official of a decentralized autonomous government;
• a person who appoints members of the board of a public company;
• employee of a public company;
• general rules applicable to any officials.

For the "former public servant" category, the user must clarify:

• whether they were a public servant in the past and now wish to become one again; or
• whether they held a position in the Market Control Authority.

As in the Argentine software, further circumstances are then specified, though without an explicit tie to particular anti-corruption standards. Thus, for a current public servant serving in a transparency and social control body, one must indicate the specific body – e.g., the Office of the Comptroller General, the Market Control Authority, or the Banking Superintendency. Additional details may then be requested; for an auditor at the Office of the Comptroller General, for example, the system asks about specific functions such as involvement in sanctioning or approving financial, administrative, operational, and environmental processes and performing the duties of the head of state audit, among other circumstances.

At the end, the system provides not only an assessment of whether the situation shows signs of a conflict of interest, but also a link to the legal norm explaining the conclusion.

A similar software product – a "conflict-of-interest assistant" – has also been developed in Russia, as we have written earlier. Unlike the Argentine and Ecuadorian versions, it not only answers whether a given situation shows signs of a conflict of interest, but also suggests possible measures to prevent or resolve the conflict (or other response measures) and provides up-to-date case law covering similar situations (where available). However, in Russia the assistant was developed for use by specific government organizations, was not rolled out across the entire public sector, and is therefore not publicly available.